Coffee, one the world’s most popular drinks is a contentious topic in health circles.

In the blue corner there are a number of studies which have shown that the magnesium, chromium and antioxidants in coffee can help to reduce the risk of everything from diabetes to heart disease, certain cancers, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and strokes and a cup of coffee pre-workout has been proven to improve lean muscle growth.

On the other hand, critics argue that caffeine is a stimulant and taxes the adrenals, which for most of us are already dangerously over-stressed, as well as irritating the our insides and in some cases causing stomach ulcers. In most of the studies, the positive effects were only seen after consuming four cups or above daily. While everyone has a different level of caffeine sensitivity but four or five cups is still far more caffeine than most of us can handle given that coffee’s half-life (i.e. the amount of time your body takes to process the caffeine) of coffee is between five and seven hours. Proponents of an alkaline lifestyle (check out Honestly Healthy for more details on why alkalinity is so important for optimum health) also eschew coffee for its acidic properties.

Personally we have a love hate relationship with coffee. We go through phases without it but would be lying if we said we didn’t love a creamy (non-dairy) latte but at the moment we try to limit our consumption to one cup first thing and never later than lunchtime to avoid any negative impact on our sleep.

Image: Christophe at Pixabay.com

So while the debate continues to rage, all you coffee-lovers can rejoice as we’re here to tell you why oh-so trendy ‘cold-pressed’ coffee is actually a much healthier option than your normal Starbucks and let you into a little secret - that it’s incredibly easy to make at home!

First off, terminology is key here - to clarify cold-brew coffee is not to be confused with ‘iced coffee’ - i.e. coffee brewed with hot water poured over ice to cool. So here’s the science bit. During the normal coffee brewing process, hot water passes through the coffee particles and dissolves the various compounds. However, the heat exposure forces certain chemical reactions which ‘cook’ the particles and release oils which are full of acidic compounds and which give coffee its bitter flavour and create that archetypal ‘coffee’ aroma.

In contrast, cold- brewing eschews hot water altogether which means those acidic oils don’t dissolve which means that the chemical profile of the compounds that leach from the coffee particles is totally different. Experts estimate cold-brew coffee contains between 67 - 69% less acid than a conventional cup which is cause to celebrate for everyone striving for an alkaline balance as well as being much kinder to our digestive tracts. The result is a much smoother brew, thanks to the low-acid content aficionados claim that cold-brewing exposes all of the subtle flavours and undertones in the coffee normally lost. The lack of bitterness also means the coffee tastes naturally sweeter - most people only add sugar to coffee to counteract the bitterness.

Image: Publicdomainimages at Pixabay.com

The even better news, we feel like we are letting you in to some kind of secret club here, is that cold-brew coffee is incredibly simple to make at home! While you can buy all sorts of expensive cold-brew kit, you really don’t need it - check out our faithful, idiot-proof method below.

Depending on how strong you like your brew, combine one cup of coarsely ground beans with between three and four cups of room temperature water and decant into a vessel with a lid (a large mason jar is ideal!).

Stir and leave to work its magic. Leave your mixture to sit for between 12 and 20 hours. Ideally, we tend to leave ours for around 18 hours but if we’re in a hurry we’ll just leave it overnight . If you pass the jar give it a little shake every now and then although this isn’t essential.

Post-soaking stain your mixture through a a coffee filter, or a fine mesh sieve layered with some cheesecloth. A nut milk bag would also do the trick. Voila, you have yourself the perfect cold-brew coffee concentrate that will stay good for around 10 days in the fridge.

The resulting concentrate is super versatile. Again, depending on your preference, dilute the concentrate with between one and three parts water or milk. You can even add hot liquids for a warm drink without affecting the chemical profile (i.e. low acidity) of the coffee! On hot days we’ll drink it cool but we love to whizz some up with homemade almond milk in our Vitamix for a delicious warm frothy latte. Given the lack of bitterness, the concentrate is also perfect for using in cooking or baking.

For those of you who are even lazier and don’t mind if a few grinds slip through, you can even use a French press / cafetiere, simply mix the ground coffee and water in there instead and when it’s time to filter just press down your filter.

You can even play with adding additional flavours into your mix - we love a vanilla bean scraped in to the mix and are looking forward to trying out a Cardamom twist.

With all the money you’re saving on your daily coffee habit you can afford to invest in some quality beans. Try and buy organic wherever possible as coffee tends to have a high pesticide residue and opt for fair-trade wherever possible.

We love our breakfast smoothies as much as the next healthy living gal, but on those cold, dark and wet mornings, nothing hits the spot like a big bowl of warming porridge!

We are firm believers in the importance of eating a proper breakfast to kickstart the day ahead but breakfast can get boring if you don't mix things up. Broadening your porridge horizons is also a great way to experiment with all of the amazing (but slightly scary sounding) "good grains" out there. We've rounded up a few inspirational porridge recipes to get you started, courtesy of a few our favourite health food bloggers. Have you tried any of these recipes? Do you pimp your porridge? Let us know in the comments below!

Rinse both the quinoa and amaranth very well or until the water runs clear.

In two separate small sauce pans you will cook each grain, quinoa and amaranth.

Bring water to a boil.

Both grains require 1 cup/ 1½ cups of water (respectively)- more depending on how quickly they absorb the water.

Cook quinoa for 15-20 minutes or until soft (the quinoa will have “tails” that show). Cook amaranth for about 20-25 minutes (the amaranth will resemble a grit like texture).

In a large mixing bowl stir all ingredients in with both grains until mixed well. I like to “mash” the pear into the grains and top with chunks of pear.

Pour Brazil Nut milk on top, however much you enjoy.

Serve and garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon or more fresh pear. Enjoy!

Tip: this recipe makes 4 servings, so what if you need it just for 1 person? Simply make the recipe as is and save the leftovers, reheat the next morning and there you go- breakfast for 4 days already prepared.

Soak amaranth for as long as possible, 8 hours minimum, 24 hours is optimal.

Drain and rinse amaranth. Combine with coconut milk, pumpkin puree, sea salt, spices, and vanilla bean (seeds scraped, and empty bean pod). Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, stirring often to prevent scorching on the bottom. Simmer on lowest heat for 15 minutes with the lid on (watch to see if liquid level becomes too low. If so, add a little extra coconut milk or water) Turn heat off, and let sit for 10 minutes with the lid on to thicken.

According to research by University College London, released this week, eating seven portions of fruit and vegetables daily is the magic number, not five as per the current Government health guidelines.

Image: She Knows

The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, examined the diets of over 65,000 people in England over a twelve-year period – from 2001 to 2013.

The study found that the risk of death from any cause was cut by 42 per cent for people who ate seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables daily compared to people who managed only one portion. It was also associated with a 25% lower risk of cancer and 31% lower risk of heart disease or stroke.

According to the study the risk of death from any cause was reduced on a sliding scale depending on the volume of fruits and vegetables consumed:

14% by eating one to three portions of fruit or vegetables per day;

29% for three to five portions of fruit or vegetables per day;

36% for five to seven portions of fruit or vegetables per day; and

42% for seven or more portions of fruit or vegetables per day (up to around 10 portions a day).

In the context of the study a "portion" means about 80g (3oz), meaning or "one large fruit or a handful of smaller fruit or veg" according to Dr Oyinlola Oyebode, who led the study.

When considering the results of research such as the current study there are also other factors to consider, mainly that the average person consuming seven or more portions of fresh fruits and vegetables daily will tend to subscribe to a more healthy lifestyle in general for example, being a non-smoker, exercising regularly and drinking in moderation. While the researchers at UCL claim to have taken such social and lifestyle factors into account, the impact of such factors shouldn’t be underestimated.

Nonetheless, Dr Oyebode (as quoted by the BBC) described the results of the research as “staggering”. "The clear message here is that the more fruit and vegetables you eat, the less likely you are to die - at any age", she explained.

Dr Oyebode and her colleagues also confirmed that not all fruits and veggies were created equal. The research found that the preventative effects were strongest in fresh vegetables followed by salad and then fresh fruit. On the flip side the study found that fruit juice provides no benefit at all while canned or frozen fruit actually increases your chances of dying by 17 per cent.

The researchers have admitted that they are unsure how to interpret these findings. While frozen and canned fruit were grouped together in the study, they are not generally accepted as having the same nutritional profile. While frozen fruit is generally considered to have the same nutritional benefits as fresh fruit, canned fruit is commonly stored in sugar syrups packed full of nasties which negate much of their health benefits. This is also strange given that the study found frozen vegetables conferred the same reduction in risk as fresh vegetables. One possibility is that people who eat predominately frozen or tinned fruit have less access to fresh produce generally which could indicate a less healthy diet in general. The team at UCL have acknowledged that more work needs to be done on this area to see whether the problem is sweetened, tinned fruit which is skewing the results.

The study also raises questions around how these findings fit into the recent findings on the devastating health effects of sugar. While we don’t have the time or space to outline the science in detail here, at it’s most basic our body processes sugar as sugar whether it’s from a good source (such as fruit) or bad (a Snickers bar) although obviously fruit provides additional nutritional benefits compared to a chocolate bar. The World Health Organisation has recently halved its daily sugar recommendation which now equates to around 6 tsp. Given that one banana alone can swallow up your entire daily allowance, it follows that packing your seven a day full of fruit may negate the positive effects shown by the study (something we are currently grappling with here at The Holist). Therefore you should try and ensure your daily intake is skewed heavily in favour of vegetables. The UK Government would do well to look towards Australia where they recommend a “5+2” approach, with five portions of vegetables and only two portions of fruit.

Public health commentators have criticised the findings, saying that changing the Government’s official five-a-day message would be confusing and that it is hard enough to get people to eat five portions and that seven will seem so unrealistic that people will be deterred. At present, only one in four Britons manages to eat 5-a-day and just one in 10 teenagers.

So is seven or even ten portions of fruit and vegetables realistic? While we will admit that here at The Holist HQ we subscribe to a healthier lifestyle than the average Britain, we do believe it is possible for the average person to achieve. Using Dr Oyebode’s portion size guide we’ve set out a pretty typical weekday menu from The Holist HQ below and totted up the totals to show it isn’t as hard as it sounds.

While the study isn’t perfect, in our opinion, any findings that encourage people to eat more fruit and veggies rather than processed junk is a good thing and should be celebrated.

Do you manage seven portions a day or struggle to hit five? What are your secrets? We’d love to hear your thoughts below!

Typical day at The Holist HQ

* True to their official classification we’ve treatedtomatoes as a fruit not a vegetable.

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